Organic certification program faces financial woes in New Mexico
The New Mexico Organic Certification Program has operated with a $100,000-a-year deficit since the state cut its funding in 2010 and capped the fees the agency collects from farmers, The Santa Fe New Mexican reported.
The Department of Agriculture has proposed five alternative funding options that all involve raising fees for the state’s 150 organic processors and farmers or cutting the program. An analysis of those options was released last month by the New Mexico Farmers Marketing Association.
The state’s preferred option is to pay for 25 percent of the program out of the department’s budget and increase the organic certification application fee by about $100 a year to cover the balance.
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